Some thoughts on climate change and travelling

Climate change isn’t fake news – it’s happening and it’s our job to make sure to stop it (or at least slow it down significantly). Sometimes it can be hard to live eco-friendlier when you also want to explore the world. For me personally, the bad effects of travelling on the environment have been a pretty big point of conflict. I love travelling – but I also love our planet, the nature and the animals that live on it. While travelling to beautiful destinations is fulfilling me with a lot of joy and happiness, I cannot help but wonder what will happen to these wonderful places if we do not take more care about the current climate situation. Even though a big part of improving this situation lies in the hands of the governments and the economy, I’m certain that everybody can help improve it on their own. And I like to think that every little step towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly life is a step into the right direction. But saying this does not have to mean we should completely stop doing what we love. If you love travelling – travel. But try to keep your impact as low as you possibly can.

I’ve been trying to travel in an eco-friendlier way for a while now, and it’s been going pretty well. Naturally, I’ll try and reduce my negative impact on the environment more and more, step by step. But I’m rather confident that I’m doing the best I can right now, and that I’ll slowly improve to an even more sustainable travel lifestyle. What I’ve been doing is not magic – in fact, it includes the basic things you can read on any blog that talks about travelling in a more sustainable way. I’ve been taking trains instead of planes, cooked my own food in hostels instead of buying plastic-wrapped convenience food in super markets and I’ve walked shorter distances instead of ordering an Uber or a taxi. When I couldn’t avoid taking a plane, I’ve packed light and compensate the CO2 emissions that my flight caused (on mindfulflights.com – really recommend!). I also tried to choose a more sustainable airline when possible – KLM for example uses biofuels for certain routes. I know that this does not make the emissions that the plane blasts into the air any less and that there definitely is room for improvement. But it’s the best I can do right now and I’m constantly trying to improve it. And as I said before: every little step into the right direction counts. So as long as we can find a balance between travelling and living a sustainable life, I think we’re doing a pretty good job.

Do you have any thoughts on travelling in an eco-friendlier way? How do you think we should behave and what we should do when it comes to travelling in a world that is dying from pollution and CO2 emissions? I’d really love to hear your opinion in the comment section and to learn about your personal take on the whole topic. Love, Stefanie

4 thoughts on “Some thoughts on climate change and travelling

  1. Emma Escamilla says:

    Hey Stefanie,

    as you stopped by on my blog and read my blog novel, I decided to pay you a visit as well. 🙂 I really like your blog and find it very interesting. I think, I’ll visit it more often from now on. Travelling is something that I enjoy a lot. This year my boyfriend and I made a Germany tour by car. I know, travelling by train would have been even better for the climate, but we made some negative experiences with travelling with Deutsche Bahn. I don’t know what the stuation is like in Austria, but here in Germany trains are often late or get cancelled (what happened to us when we visited Berlin in 2018). Anyway, I’m usually travelling by bus or train when I’m at home, as I don’t have a car. So I think this balances the CO2 emissions we cause during travelling. We haven’t travelled by plane for a while now. I miss it a bit, but on the other hand I’m very scared of flying since we once ended up in a thunderstorm on the flight back from Mallorca. 😛

    Take care!
    Emma

    Liked by 1 person

    • around&about says:

      Hi Emma, thank you so much for stopping by, I really appreciate that! 🙂
      A Germany road trip sounds amazing, and while you say that travelling by train would have been an even better choice – sometimes it’s simply not possible or you simply don’t want to. After all, you should enjoy your holidays too! It sounds like you do care a lot about climate change though, and it’s awesome that you use public transport in your daily life. 🙂
      I don’t know about Germany but it surely doesn’t sound too pleasant. In my opinion, the train system in Austria is pretty good, I very rarely had trains cancelled. They are sometimes a bit late, but that doesn’t bother me too much 🙂
      Thanks for your comment and all the best, Stefanie 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Dorie says:

    Ohja, ich habe auch einen ganzen Post zu Nachhaltigkeit auf Reisen geschrieben und ich muss auch gestehen, dass meine vielen Flugreisen mir ein sehr schlechtes Gewissen machen. Ich zahle dann meist auch einen Ausgleich für das CO2 und wenn möglich nehme ich Fluglinien mit Bio-Tank. Ich hoffe aber auch, dass unsere Regierungen mal langsam aufwachen. Kohleausstieg bspw. ist ein massives Thema – Fliegen verursacht dagegen nur 3% der Treibhausgase. Ich bin am 20. September wieder bei der Klimademo und hoffe, dass sich bald was tut 🙂
    Liebe Grüße und einen sonnigen Sonntag!
    Dorie von http://www.thedorie.com

    Liked by 1 person

    • around&about says:

      Oh wie schön, den Post werde ich mir gleich mal ansehen. Bin immer gespannt wie andere das Thema sehen und damit umgehen 🙂
      Das mit dem schlechten Gewissen kenne ich nur zu gut. Aber du hast Recht, ich hoffe auch dass die Regierungen bald mal aktiver werden. Im Endeffekt hängt davon noch viel mehr ab als von uns einzelnen Personen. Schön, dass du auch am 20. September demonstrieren gehst, ich bin auch wieder dabei. Hoffentlich zeigt es ihnen, dass uns unser Planet und unsere Zukunft nicht egal ist. 🙂
      Danke für deinen Kommentar und alles liebe, Stefanie

      Like

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